“You have said nothing while we met,” Dillon said to Nidhug.
“I had naught to say,” the dragon answered him.
“You do not like Dreng, do you?” Cirillo said to her.
“It was all I could do not to scorch him with my fire,” the dragon admitted, and her nostrils glowed a dark red. “How dare he say my precious Cinnia is a tainted woman! We will find her, bring her back and all will be as it was. She is queen of Belmair. Does Dreng not realize that I know he has two granddaughters of marriageable age? He will set neither of them in my Cinnia’s place!”
“Nay, he will not,” Dillon told her. “For now she is safe, and I have already set our own people to searching every nook and cranny of Belmair province for answers as to where the Yafir have hidden their world.”
In Belmair the trees remained full and bright with color for two full months. And then on the morning of the new year Belmairans would awaken to find the leaves gone, and the trees bare. During those two months the people of Belmair’s world searched and searched and searched for the hiding place of the Yafir, but they could not find it. Finally the icy season was upon them with its heavy snows, bitter winds and brutal cold. The search had to be suspended until the spring.
Both Kaliq and Cirillo remained in Belmair. Queen Ilona had departed soon after she had helped her grandson and his companions set the spell about Belmair’s young women. She said nothing of her son’s obvious affection for the dragon. In time it would pass, and it would pass quicker if she did not disapprove it.
“Send for your mother,” was her last bit of advice to Dillon before she hurried through the glowing tunnel back to her own forest home.
But Dillon did not send for Lara. Instead he grew sadder and sadder as each day passed without finding Cinnia. Cirillo was little help. It was obvious to all but the most foolish of fools that the faerie prince and the dragon were besotted with one another.
Kaliq finally took it upon himself to seek out Lara’s help. One night while Dillon sat staring silently into the flames of the hearth in the little hall, the Shadow Prince took himself to Lara’s home in Terah, appearing in her hall on a winter’s afternoon.
“Kaliq!” It was Lara’s husband, Magnus Hauk, who saw him first. “It has been some time since you have visited us. Welcome to Terah!” The tall, golden-haired man came forward, smiling, his hand held out in friendship, his turquoise eyes warm.
“Thank you, my lord Dominus,” Kaliq responded, grasping the hand with his own. “I have come to bring Lara word of Dillon, in Belmair.”
“Send for the Domina,” Magnus Hauk said to a servant. “Bring wine for our guest. Come, old friend, and sit with me by the fire.”
Kaliq murmured his thanks, thinking that his absence from Terah these last years had mellowed Magnus Hauk’s attitude toward him. He took the wine offered him, and sat with the Dominus of Terah. “It is a complicated tale I have to tell,” he said pleasantly, “and so I hope you will forgive me if I wait until Lara comes so I need tell it but once. How are the children? Have you found a husband yet for Anoush?”
Magnus Hauk rolled his eyes at the mention of his stepdaughter. “Nay. She has been quite outspoken in that matter. It seems she does not wish to wed, or so she says. Lara has suggested, and I agree, that we leave her be for now. One day she may meet a man she can love. Her mystical sight becomes stronger and stronger. Her healing powers are wonderful and other than in the matter of marriage she is a good daughter to us.”
“You are wise to let her be,” Kaliq said. “And the others?”
“Zagiri is interested in the young men, but she is still too young for me to consider matching. As for Taj and Marzina, they are yet children, thank the Great Creator! We took your advice, and turned down the proposed marriage alliance between Marzina and the son of Hetar’s rulers. They have not accepted our refusal, however, and say they will ask again in two more years. That in itself disturbs me.”
Kaliq nodded, and then sensing her entry into the hall he turned to see Lara coming toward them. He rose and went forward to greet her, taking her hands in his and kissing them. Their eyes met quickly, briefly. “You are lovely as always.”
“Thank you, my lord,” she said in even tones, withdrawing her hands from him.
Together they rejoined Magnus Hauk, who said, “Kaliq brings us word of Dillon.”
“Tell me.” Lara said the two words sharply.
“He is totally in love with his wife, Cinnia, but Belmair is beset by an enemy who must be made into a friend,” Kaliq began. “Unfortunately this Yafir has escalated the problem.” He continued on, telling them everything that had happened to date.
“The Yafir haven’t been heard of in centuries,” Lara said.
“Because they had hidden themselves somewhere in Belmair,” Kaliq responded. “Dillon planned to negotiate with their leader, Ahura Mazda, in order to bring the Yafir back into Belmair’s society. It would have allowed Belmairan and Yafir to mingle once more on a daily basis, in a normal fashion. There would have been no need to steal women away. But Ahura Mazda believes he can shortly claim Belmair for the Yafir as his numbers grow while Belmair’s do not due to the lack of females. And just to emphasize the strength of his position he has stolen Cinnia away.”
“Dillon is all right?” Lara asked the Shadow Prince.
“Yes and no,” Kaliq answered her. “While he knows with his intellect that Cinnia is safe with the Yafir lord, and that he will regain her, he misses her terribly. His heart pines for her in the midst of a dark and cold winter.”
“Do you know where the Yafir secret themselves?” Lara asked.
Kaliq shook his head. “The strongest of my powers are confined to the world of Hetar,” he told her. “I retain certain other powers when I am in Belmair, but I cannot tell Dillon where the Yafir hide. And if I could I would not for this is his puzzle to unravel. Belmair is his world now, and as its ruler he must use his own powers to see to his people, their safety and their well-being. He has the skills, Lara, to do it.”
“Then why have you come to me?” she asked candidly.
“I think a visit from his mother might ease the sadness he is feeling right now,” Kaliq told her.
“He has not invited me to come to this new world of his,” Lara said, and there was just the hint of anger in her voice. “Dillon is my eldest child, and we have always had a closeness that others envied. But you took him to Belmair, Kaliq. You saw him wed to a girl I have not even seen yet, let alone met. It has been almost a year now since he was gone, and I have not seen him since that last visit to Shunnar well over a year ago. After you told me of his marriage I expected him to wait a short while in order to become better acquainted with his new wife, his new responsibilities. But after several months had past, he had still not invited me. Now you say he wants me to come?”
“Nay,” Kaliq told her bluntly. “I did not say he wanted you to come. I said-”
“I know what you said!” Lara answered. “Then he has not asked for me.”
“Lara, my love, you cannot possibly believe that Dillon would call out for his
“He could have invited me, invited us, to visit Belmair,” Lara said.
“Woman, be reasonable!” Magnus Hauk said and he turned to Kaliq. “Is the bride beautiful, my lord? Does she please him?” And when Kaliq nodded with a smile, the Dominus said to his wife, “Were either of us eager to have our in-laws as guests in the earliest days of our marriage?” he asked her. “Even now, do we seek out visitors?”
“You and your mother have never had the closeness that Dillon and I share,” Lara replied stubbornly. But there was just the faintest smile playing at the corners of her mouth. They had built the Dominus’s mother, the Lady Persis, a home near their own rather than have her living with them.
“There was no time for the niceties from what Kaliq has said,” Magnus Hauk said, defending the stepson with whom he had become friends. “Ruling is never easy, Lara, and well you know it. Dillon had little time to settle in before this difficulty with the Yafir arose. Why is it that I never heard you mention them?”
“They have been thought to be extinct,” Lara said. “They haven’t been seen here in our world for thousands of years. Do you really think Dillon needs me, Kaliq?”
“I think it would boost his spirits, Lara,” the Shadow lord answered her. “Did your mother tell you that she helped us when we cast the spell protecting Belmair’s remaining women from the Yafir?”
